How to play the Spanish Cities category in Impostor

What a Spanish Cities round actually looks like

In every round each player is secretly dealt a Spanish city: Madrid, Gijón or Palma de Mallorca. Everyone writes a clue about their city without naming it, while the impostor invents one to slide into the table.

The category works because knowledge is wildly uneven: some players have lived in a capital, others mix up Alicante with Almería and assume Vigo is in Asturias.

• Best with 4 to 10 players
• Rounds last 3 to 5 minutes
• Great for trip-planning nights, pub quiz crowds and language classes
• Free in the browser, nothing to install

How the Spanish Cities category works in the game

The database holds twenty cities: the big capitals, the coastal towns and the northern cities you only know if you have taken the ferry. Each player describes their city with one detail: the river, the region, a monument, the dish it is famous for or the festival it hosts.

The impostor gets no city. The classic tell is a clue so broad that it fits anything: 'it is big', 'it has a cathedral' or 'it is in the south'.

1. Create the room and choose the Spanish Cities category
2. Write a clue: region, river, monument or festival
3. Read the other clues and hunt for impossible combinations
4. Debate in the chat and vote for the suspect
5. The ejected player reveals their city and the next round starts

The cities in the database and what gives them away

These are the cities the game deals out. Knowing the river, the region or the landmark that defines each one lets you catch the bluff in round one.

Impostor tactics if you have never been to Spain

You do not need to have travelled at all. The impostor wins when the clue sounds like a real city, not when it is the correct one.

• Lean on shared traits: 'it is a provincial capital', 'it has a cathedral', 'it is near the coast'.
• Anchor your clue to a region someone already named: 'also in the north' sounds plausible and costs nothing.
• Avoid proper names. Mention La Alhambra and everyone will know you mean Granada.
• Never copy the previous clue word for word: reorder it and add a small detail.
• When challenged, ask a question back: 'is it a big city?' makes the others explain themselves.
• Match the tone of the table: if everyone uses flags and emojis, use flags and emojis.

How to catch the impostor when you know Spain

Having been there helps, but only if you ask instead of accusing. A closed question forces the suspect to give a checkable fact.

1. Ask for the region: Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country or Castile
2. Compare rivers: Ebro, Guadalquivir, Tormes, Pisuerga or an estuary
3. Hunt the impossible: an inland city with a beach does not exist
4. Watch who writes late: the impostor needs time to invent the clue
5. Align accusations before voting: split votes hand the round to the impostor

Common mistakes that ruin the round

• Naming the city in your first clue: it kills the mystery
• Voting for the player who has travelled the least
• Arguing about which province belongs to which region and accusing over it
• Reusing the same clue round after round
• Playing with more than 12 people: the chat becomes unreadable

Recommended settings for a Spanish Cities game

With Spanish players the category runs itself. With a mixed group, warn them that the cities are local and allow monument or dish clues so nobody is left out.

House rules to make the cities category harder

Once the group knows the cities by heart, these house rules raise the difficulty:

• Coastal cities only
• Provincial capitals only
• One-word clues
• Two impostors with different fake clues
• The ejected player becomes the impostor in the next round

Frequently asked questions

Game guides